Whoever said that going to concerts was not a workout has never been to one, since, even after about 9 hours' sleep, I still feel like I was worked over with a steel bat. Unfortunately, I need to go to the gym today to work out. So, the 2003 KROQ Weenie Roast. I'm sad to say that most of the bands I wanted to see yesterday rather disappointed me: Either they sounded bad live -- leading me to believe that their work is mostly studio-engineered -- or they had absolutely no stage presence so I couldn't get into them at all because they generated zero energy. On top of all of that, the way the venue is set up and where our seats were, the left side of my face is rather tanned while the right side... not so much. I look kind of two-toned. I scored backstage passes from a co-worker, so Francisco and I headed back there to see the action. It was funny, because I told him to put on the wristband and he did so questioningly, but as soon as I told him what it was for, his eyes lit up and he said, "Backstage? Let's go -- NOW!" Once backstage, I saw a friend who I hadn't seen in a while and got a chance to say hi, and we saw Seth Green (who is a lot shorter than I thought -- the dude's like 5'3"! Francisco elbowed him, albeit accidentally), Kelly Osbourne (who I almost had to ask Fran to restrain me from walking over and kicking her ass), Pat O'Brien from Access Hollywood, Jared Leto (who's growing his hair out -- but every time I saw him, Requiem for a Dream flashed into my head and I had to move on because that movie literally made me sick to my stomach), Liam Lynch (who I had to restrain Fran from going over to and saying, "Liam Lynch... whatever!"), Juliette Lewis (who's actually a lot better-looking in real life than she is in the movies), Pete Yorn (whose performance earlier was very bass-intensive, he needs to talk to his sound engineer about that), the guys from Chevelle, a couple of the guys from Hot Hot Heat (whose show I skipped out on -- the lead singer's voice annoys me) and Jack White of the White Stripes (who was being interviewed by KROQ's Tami Heide, he's very tall and was dressed to the nines in a suit and a bowler hat -- Fran was within arm's reach of him and did nothing, despite his undying love for the White Stripes). They'd rented the In 'N' Out trucks for the day, so we had free burgers, and we hobnobbed with the elite (and used their bathrooms). I introduced myself to KROQ's music director, who only knew me by name and who I had accidentally kind of insulted when I interviewed her for a column I wrote a few months ago, so I made good and now she has a face to go with the name, and hopefully, it's the start of a beautiful friendship. Bands seen: - The Ataris, who were eh. They played well, but they didn't have much energy and even though the lead singer kept saying, "You guys are an awesome crowd! You fuckin' rock," I didn't quite see it. - Interpol, who I was pleasantly surprised by -- they put on one of the best technical performances of the day in that their music was dead-on, the sound engineering was good and you could hear every note they were playing and every word the lead singer was singing. Francisco loves Interpol, so while the crowd was clapping and kind of cheering for them, he was jumping up and down and screaming, "WOOOOO! INTERPOL! YOU GUYS ROCK! WOOOOOOO!" I had to distance myself from him a bit while they were playing. - Finch, who I was really looking forward to seeing and who really disappointed me. "Letters to You" and "What It Is to Burn" are two of my favorite songs right now, and I really liked the band because they had a tight sound on their album and the lead singer could actually sing. Unfortunately, in concert, the sound was awful and sounded like a sonic assault, and the lead singer spent most of his time screaming unintelligibly into the microphone. - Chevelle, who I was again really looking forward to seeing but who really disappointed me. Chevelle's album is so full of energy and raw emotion, but none of it translated into their live performance. - The Used, who really surprised me. They had a ton of energy, they worked really well with the small crowd and they put on a great technical performance -- the songs they played actually sounded like the songs on their album. - Blur, who annoyed me. Damon Albarn looked like he was bored and annoyed with the crowd because they wanted to hear rock songs like "Song 2" and "Crazy Beat," and he wanted to preach to the crowd about love and peace and play songs like "Tender" and the crowd was having none of that. Pompous ass. - Transplants, who rocked, and they sounded like their album as well. Oddly enough, they brought out Pink (who I didn't recognize -- she's dyed her hair black and looks a lot tubbier than I remember) and she sang "Get the Party Started" while the Transplants backed her up. How surreal. Then they brought out the rest of Rancid, and they played a couple of songs. - The White Stripes, who generated a lot of energy despite the fact that there were only two of them on stage. Fran has a thing for Meg White. The crowd was really into them. I'm not so into them. They're okay. - Jane's Addiction, who made a surprise appearance. Man, they were great. The crowd went nuts, the band had tons of energy and they sounded awesome. It's great to see that band back together again. Their new stuff sounds like it's going to rock. - Deftones, who I was also looking forward to seeing and who really disappointed me. They sounded like they were just generating a cacophony of sound and their lead singer was unintelligible. I was ready for them to go offstage long before their performance was done. - Foo Fighters, who I missed most of their performance while I was off buying a t-shirt, but I heard a lot of it and went back to catch a few songs. They were great -- they sounded technically awesome, they were energetic and the crowd was into them, they played all their hits (which is what the crowd wants to hear, of course!) and they put on a good show. So that's that. 10 hours of rock, 9 hours of sleep, and now, 2 hours at the gym and then some time in the sun to even out my face. That's my weekend. How was yours?